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Galamsey has ceased to be merely an environmental issue in Ghana. It has become a moral collapse – one that exposes the widening gap between what many of us profess to believe and how we actually live.
Across the country, rivers once full of life now run brown and toxic. Forests are stripped bare. Farmlands are poisoned. Yet many of those directly involved – and many who silently benefit or look away – proudly identify as Christians or Muslims.
This forces an uncomfortable question: Do Christian and Muslim galamseyers read – or truly understand – their own scriptures?
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And perhaps an even harder one: What about those who watch in silence?
Stewardship Is Not Optional
The Bible is clear:
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15
Human beings were appointed caretakers, not conquerors.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” – Psalm 24:1
No individual, chief, politician, or company owns Ghana’s rivers, forests, or soil. They are held in trust for generations yet unborn.
The Qur’an echoes the same responsibility:
“Indeed, I will place upon the earth a steward (khalifah).” – Qur’an 2:30
A steward who destroys what he is entrusted with has failed his duty.
Destruction Is Explicitly Condemned
Scripture does not leave room for ambiguity.
The Bible warns:
“Do not pollute the land where you are… Do not defile the land in which you live.”
– Numbers 35:33–34
“The time has come… for destroying those who destroy the earth.” – Revelation 11:18
The Qur’an is equally direct:
“Do not cause corruption on the earth after it has been set in order.” – Qur’an 7:56
“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of people have earned.” – Qur’an 30:41
This is not poetic language. It is a description of what we are living through – poisoned rivers (65% of Ghana’s rivers devoid of fish and all aquatic life) infertile soil, and sick communities.
Silence Is Also Guilt
The crisis is not caused only by those who dig with excavators. It is also sustained by those who watch in silence.
Christian and Muslim leaders who preach every week yet refuse to confront environmental destruction share in the moral failure. Citizens who look away because it is “not their business” are not innocent.
The Bible warns:
“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” – James 2:17
And the Qur’an asks pointedly:
“Why do you say what you do not do?” – Qur’an 61:2
Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality – it is complicity.
Those in Power Bear the Heaviest Burden
There is, however, a deeper level of responsibility.
Those who hold power – political leaders, traditional authorities, regulators, trade unions, security agencies, and financiers and most importantly GMA and GRNA the primary custodians of health – carry a far heavier moral burden. They are not helpless observers.
They have authority, resources, and influence.
When they choose inaction, selective enforcement, or profit over protection, the damage multiplies.
Nature, history, and morality are unforgiving to such choices.
As Scripture warns:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.”
– Luke 12:48
And the Qur’an reminds:
“Indeed, Allah does not love the corrupters.” – Qur’an 28:77
Those with power who allow destruction to continue should not expect to escape consequence – if not from the law, then from history, from nature, and from God.
A National Moral Reckoning
This is no longer about politics or party loyalty. It is about conscience.
Galamsey is not only illegal; it is immoral. It is theft from future generations. It is violence against the voiceless. It is faith betrayed in daylight.
A nation cannot pray on Friday and Sunday and poison its rivers from Monday to Saturday.
Until belief is matched by action, prayers will echo unanswered. The question therefore remains unavoidable:
Do Christian and Muslim galamseyers – and those who watch silently – truly read their holy books, or do they only recite them?
It saddens me that we often fail to see that, at times, the truest expression of faith is not prayer, but protection of the Environment.
The writer, Efo Small is a Steward of the Environment beyond Church and Mosque
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